The Tutor
by NiftyCrifty
Summary: Chen Xiaoxi's mom has hired Jiang Chen to help Xiaoxi with her grades. AU where Jiang Chen is two years older than Xiaoxi.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, all the characters belong to the drama and novel "A Love So Beautiful. **

An alternate universe featuring Jiang Chen and Chen Xiaoxi. In this story, Jiang Chen is slightly older than Chen Xiaoxi.

Hope you all like it!

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"Let me tell you Jingjing," Chen Xiaoxi said as she spooned fried rice into her mouth. "My mom got me a tutor after the Chinese New Year's holiday."

Lin Jingxiao, otherwise known as Jingjing nodded to indicate that she was listening.

"My tutor, this guy is first year in medical school. The son of my mother's friend. He is very blessed because he is extremely good-looking…" Xiaoxi clasped her hands together, nearly dropping her eating utensils in the process. It is highly probable that someone fell in love at first sight.

Jingjing unlike her friend Xiaoxi, was extremely smart and diligent. She had good grades and often ranked top ten in the grade. It wasn't that Xiaoxi's grades were bad either. The problem was, their university entrance exams were coming up next year. Xiaoxi only ranked average, even below average in some of her subjects. With her results, she wasn't competitive enough for a spot at the province's rank one university. Her parents had a reason to be worried, for there was only one last summer vacation and one last school term before the senior year study break. Time was indeed running out.

Over the holidays, in preparation for the mid-term tests of March and final exams in June, her mom had sat Xiaoxi down on the couch and demanded that her grades improve at least 10 ranks. She even claimed that in order to help improve her grades, she had gone ahead and hired a tutor.

"Do you still remember Jiang Chen? Auntie Jiang's son? He, unlike you, is such a good student. He is in medical school now and the model student in the past. When the family comes visit later, bring out your homework and have him look them over, so that your first lesson will start smoothly."

Chen Xiaoxi had then whined, "Mom, my whole lovely New Year's holiday is ruined! I really want to eat melon seeds, draw, read novels, and play with the fire crackers outside…"

Her complaints had fallen on deaf ears as her mom immediately exploded, "What a lazy student you are! At this time of your school life, your last term of junior year, are you not even the slightest bit worried about your grades? How can you be so immature? When will you grow up and learn to worry about your own future?"

Xiaoxi had immediately shrunk back, and resorted to quietly sulking.

Needless to say, the first meeting hadn't gone very well. Xiaoxi was certain, if it had happened during the first tutoring lesson, it would have gotten much worse. She had been utterly embarrassed.

With many pleasantries and greetings, including repeating several New Year's blessings, Auntie Jiang and her two sons had arrived at Chen Xiaoxi's home. They had sat around the living room. Xiaoxi's mom had set out various dishes of snacks and the adults started chatting. When the topic of tutoring came up, Mrs. Chen had urged her daughter to hand over her schoolwork for Jiang Chen to look over. Xiaoxi obediently did so with a scowl.

"Did you really put effort in this?" Was the first comment from Jiang Chen. Xiaoxi had immediately blushed with embarrassment as the adults gave a few nervous chuckles.

"Jiang Chen be polite." Mrs. Jiang had admonished. But it was quickly waved off by Mrs. Chen. Xiaoxi's mom had many comments about her daughter's grades. Besides, it was common practice between Chinese friends and families to disparage one's own child and praise others, in order for their own children to grow more sensible and mature. It was a twisted practice for sure.

"Our Xiaoxi isn't very hardworking at school. If only she can be half as sensible and responsible as your son, Jiang Chen, I wouldn't have to worry so much about her grades." Mrs. Chen had said.

Everyone in the room had nodded in assent, and all Xiaoxi could do was be as quiet and still as possible, while enduring the small talk. Perhaps then she would become invisible.

Jingjing could only pat her friend's arm in sympathy, as Xiaoxi relayed the entire story to her. Indeed, her friend was under a lot of pressure.

"What subjects did your mom want you tutored in?" Jingjing asked.

"Three! I am going to be worked to death! Physics, Chemistry, and Math." Xiaoxi moaned. That was indeed a lot of subjects for a tutor to take up. It sounded like this Jiang Chen could be a possible genius. Or it is more likely that Xiaoxi would have more than one session of tutoring a week, on top of school.

"When do you start?"

Xiaoxi sighed multiple times, as if the thought of tutoring was a huge suffering. "Every week, I will have a tutoring session for two and a half hours on Wednesday and Saturday. Because Jiang Chen is in university and lives across town, my mom said we are to meet in the city at a library or something."

Jingjing nodded to express her sympathy. Though she believed that her friend did have academic potential, sometimes Xiaoxi was a bit distracted and lacked discipline. Having someone to push her during the next school year would prove beneficial. It was the most important time for all teenagers. This last year of high school. It determined their future. They could relax after the exams and when they got into university.

Xiaoxi continued to shove food into her mouth, as if to ease her frustrations through eating. She was also ravenous because she woke up late this morning and didn't have a chance to eat breakfast. Her stomach was growling and she had a constantly sneaked bites of a sandwich throughout the morning classes.

Suddenly a realization struck Jingjing, "Did you say Jiang Chen? Our senior schoolmate Jiang Chen?"

Xiaoxi nodded.

Jiang Chen was slightly famous at Xiaoxi's school for being a spectacular student, not only academically. He played both the violin and piano, and for both instruments, he had won many first place finished in the inter-school music competitions. He was a star athlete, winning many cross-country races. Lastly, he was a major member of the debate club, leading the school's team to victory in many debating meets. With all these extra-curricular activities, Jiang Chen still managed to remain at the top of his whole grade. This student had almost reached a legendary status at the school, especially amongst the student body while he was still a student. The current first years who never went to school with Jiang Chen, had only heard of rumors of Jiang Chen's achievements, but hadn't had the opportunity to witness them, and as a result, were not as enamoured as the higher years.

"You never told me you knew Jiang Chen?" Jingjing said a slightly miffed because Xiaoxi hadn't informed her of this fact. For who amongst the female population did not have a slight crush on him? Those who didn't would be labelled as abnormal.

"I forgot." Xiaoxi shrugged. Jingjing raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Really, I forgot. I didn't even know my mom still talked to Auntie Jiang. Besides, we used to be neighbors and grew up together. Around the time I was nine, Auntie Jiang's family moved away, so we lost contact." Xiaoxi quickly explained.

"Lost contact that easily in this day and age? There are online chats and social networking sites?" Jingjing was a bit incredulous."

"We did chat, then soon afterwards he didn't reply anymore. I didn't really follow what happened to him, other than the things from school. That's only from far away as well, it's weird to approach him after such a long time, and back then his fan-girls might attack me for it. I didn't even realize he was so good-looking…" Xiaoxi trailed off.

Jingjing was immediately alerted, "So you like him now."

"It would be abnormal not to like such a person, Jingjing. But anyway, he probably sees me as an annoying little sister with bad grades." Xiaoxi recalled their first encounter after all these years and nodded dejectedly, "Yes, he probably does think of me that way."

Being Xiaoxi's good friend, Jingjing didn't want her to feel so hopeless, but at the same time it wasn't a good idea to feed her fantasies. Jingjing could, therefore, only say, "Well, at the least you can use the opportunity to become friends."

Xiaoxi was a bit skeptical and just shrugged. At that moment, the lunch bell rang. The two girls shuffled, along with the rest of the students, out of the cafeteria to their classrooms.

Today would be Chen Xiaoxi's very unlucky day.

The No. 1 Normal High School in the district had high calibre teachers, especially for Chemistry and Physics. The teachers for both subjects were strict and demanding. However, the one that taught Chemistry had a famous temper and was extremely intimidating. The Physics teacher was the entirely opposite, more on the side of humorous, yet still demanding.

Every Chemistry class, the students would sit straight and were highly alert. Not one dared to doze off in class or even show that they were not focused. Everyone paid their undivided attention to the teacher. Often after the lesson, the whole class would be so mentally drained, that the teacher of the next period would allow the students to take a small break, that is unless they were behind schedule in the syllabus.

This afternoon, everyone was already seated quietly five minutes before the lesson began. The student on duty had wiped the board sparkling clean. The aisles between the students' desks were cleared, for the teacher liked to pace up and down the classroom as she lectured. Moreover, according to the Chemistry teacher's worldview, a clean learning environment reflected the students' attitude towards learning.

At the hour, Ms. Ren walked in, with a huff. She glanced at her students, sighed loudly, before throwing the test papers onto the teacher's desk.

The students gulped. Anxiety and suspense were thick in the air.

"This time, the performance of your class was absolutely dismal in the chapter test. Dismal. Ten students scored below 60%. One of you did not even manage to obtain 40%." Ms. Ren yelled.

She walked over to the board, and wrote two numbers furiously. An 86 and a 65. "This is the highest mark. Congratulations Xu Hua. This is the class average. It did not even reach 70%. All of you should be ashamed of yourselves! Your university entrance exam is coming soon, is this the sort of attitude you should have to your studies?"

All students just lowered their eyes, not daring to meet the teacher's gaze.

She continued on, "You all should have more expectations of yourself, in order to perform better." At her students' submissive and silent behavior, she finally stopped and sighed.

"I will just hand these out now. I won't waste my breath on you students."

Ms. Ren called the class leader to distribute the model answers for the test. One by one, students were called out to get their papers back. Some smiled at their grades, but given the average mark of the class, many faces remained blank or became frustrated. Slowly, it came to be that Xiaoxi did not get her paper back.

_No way, _she thought. _I can't be the one that failed! I'm going to die, I'm going to die. She is going to yell at me! _Xiaoxi began to dread the moment when only one paper was left. All the other students seemed to be oblivious. Everyone, was skimming their tests, looking at their mistakes and referring to the model answers as guidance.

Suddenly. "CHEN XIAOXI STAND UP!" Ms. Ren's voice boomed. All the students jumped in their seats and casted furtive looks at Xiaoxi.

Xiaoxi could only clumsily get to her feet. Her fingers gripped her uniform skirt, twisting the fabric in anxiety. _I'm in for it. _She thought with dread. _I'm so dead now. _

"Let me ask you, Xiaoxi," Ms. Ren began menacingly. Her eyes flashing with rage behind her glasses. "Did you study? At all?"

Not knowing how to answer such a question and not knowing what to expect, Xiaoxi could only nod.

"You dare tell me that you did? With a mark of 30%, you want to tell me that you studied?" Ms. Ren raged. "You are the worst amongst all your classmates! You are lazy. Your head is always in the clouds. Are you not ashamed of yourself getting such a grade? Not being smart is fine. But it is the most shameful to be lazy! Your scores have been progressively dropping with each test I set out. You better reflect on yourself and your learning attitude." All the while, Ms. Ren waved Xiaoxi's test in her hands. The students in the front row could see the red scribbles all over the sheet.

Xiaoxi blushed shamefully. Her eyes burned at the scolding she received. But she had enough dignity and control not to cry. She bit the inside of her cheeks hard, to distract herself.

Ms. Ren, meanwhile, had marched over to Xiaoxi and tossed the test paper onto her desk. She turned around and sighed loudly, "We will begin the next chapter now."

There was an immediate rustle as students hurriedly took out their notes to prepare for class. Xiaoxi immediately sat down and took out her notes. She was too embarrassed to meet the gazes of her fellow classmates.

But despite the harsh words. Ms. Ren seemed to have a sense of sympathy as well, for this time, in address to the whole class, she said, "Alright, this time since it was just a chapter's test, I won't require parent signatures. But you all should reflect on your learning attitude!" Then she began to lecture on the next topic.

At this, at least half of the students, most likely those who did not do as well, breathed a sigh of relief. This time around, it seemed that they would not get a repeat lecture from their parents.

Soon, it was nearing the end of the tense and stressful class. It could not be said that time flew by in the Chemistry lesson. But there were only five minutes left, and each second ticked by in an agonizing manner. Indeed, the class was ending, and the students could finally breathe easily, but not before enduring yet another tirade about how they could not even manage to properly calculate chemical reactions with adequate speed.

The bell sounded signalling the next period. Ms. Ren flounced out the door. All the students let out a relieved sigh. Xiaoxi immediately flopped onto her desk and buried her head in her arms. Jingjing glanced worriedly at her from across the classroom, there was nothing she could do but gaze at her friend sympathetically.

_I just want this day to end. _Xiaoxi felt utterly defeated and drained.

Even though the last period was Xiaoxi's favorite literature class, she still wasn't even able to focus. She only laid her head on her desk and used her right hand to doodle on her textbook with a pencil.

The literature teacher was sympathetic. Of course, towards the end of the period, when Mr. Luo was waiting outside, he could hear the chemistry teacher's famous yelling inside the classroom. Besides, Chen Xiaoxi was one of the rare students that possessed a flair for the arts. She had natural intuition for the classical prose and poems. It was a pity that she was struggling in the science subjects. But such was the trend of education these days.

The high school had good resources in the sciences, and the science students had always obtained good results. Many parents, knowing of this, pushed their children into the sciences, hoping to play the system and have their children get good university exam results. Besides the sciences paved the way for a good future career.

Finally, it was the end of the day. Xiaoxi rushed to pack her bag and then skipped across the classroom to Jingjing's desk. "Come with me for some snacks. I want to drown my embarrassment and sorrows by eating."

Jingjing looked at her friend apologetically, "My mom is returning late from her job today, I have to do some house chores. Sorry, I can't eat with you today."

Xiaoxi pouted, "Alright, but at least come with me to the market on the way home." Jingjing nodded and hooked her arm with Xiaoxi.

The two teenage girls left the school, chatting and gossiping about random things only they knew about. The afternoon sun hung low in the sky, casting a golden glow on the city. It was a rare cloudless day. The two girls walked gaily down several streets into a snack store.

Some fifteen minutes later, Xiaoxi emerged with a huge bag of junk food. There were juice boxes and yogurt drinks. Bags of chips and other crisps crinkled together, along with an assortment of biscuits. At an intersection, the two girls waved good-bye. Jingjing headed down into the subway station, while Xiaoxi walked a several more streets towards home.

Without her friend's company, Xiaoxi became dejected again. She sighed as she thought about what had happened at school. _At least I have my comfort food. I really want to just lie on my bed, read novels, draw and eat snacks. _The thought of doing just that cheered Xiaoxi up slightly. She liked to lose herself in her own world. It was her own way of dealing with stress.

Luckily for Xiaoxi, her parents stayed at her mom's pig trotter restaurant, and would be returning home late. She only had to fend for herself for dinner, opting for a quick bowl of instant noodles. She was glad that her mom was not at home to nag her about her studies. She really didn't need that tonight.

And so, for the entire night, Xiaoxi read novels and munched on her snacks, forgetting about her schoolwork altogether.

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**Please read and review, if you enjoyed it. I will update soon, hopefully, writing ahead, so I won't take too long between chapters. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, all the characters belong to the drama and novel "A Love So Beautiful.**

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Friday afternoon couldn't come any sooner for Chen Xiaoxi. She was excited for her weekend. She still had to go to school for half a day tomorrow in reality. Her school implemented a new policy for preparing their students for public exams. In the second half of the term, Year 2 students would start to have supplementary lessons. The goal was to finish the high school curriculum before the start of Year 3, so that the final school year could be dedicated entirely to mock exams.

However, Friday was Friday. It was natural for every student to relax and take a breather. Xiaoxi dumped her school bag next to her desk and plopped onto her chair. She pulled up her favorite drama streaming site and continued watching the series she was recently addicted to.

Her phone had beeped, jolting her from her wonderful drama induced fantasies. When she saw who it was from, she nearly suffered a heart attack.

"6:00pm

This is Jiang Chen. If Auntie didn't tell you, tomorrow we will have tutoring. 1:00 pm. Don't be late. Meet at Still Grotto Café. The nearest stop on the subway line is Hua Fei Street. That's all."

_How did he even know her phone number? _Xiaoxi read it and groaned at the prospect of Saturday.

She quickly replied in affirmative and went back to the episode she was watching. Nothing should ruin her enjoyment now; the male lead was finally confessing his feelings for the female lead.

...

Chen Xiaoxi trudged out of the subway station, already mentally exhausted from the morning's supplementary lessons. Her stomach also growled in protest at her 'exertion'. She could only hope that Jiang Chen would be nice enough to allow her to eat beforehand. She would have to budget her allowance carefully now, since she could see herself spending a lot during her tutoring sessions. Especially on snacks.

Walking westward two streets and turning right, she saw Still Grotto Café up ahead. The café looked very chic and modern. The store front had floor to ceiling window panes. The door was also glass. She timidly went into the café.

The space was huge and open, full of warmth. It was an inviting place, with the light wood panels and cream accents. All the lights were a soft yellow hue. To the left upon entry was the drinks bar with long circular countertop. Behind the bar, Xiaoxi could see a small window which was where the kitchen staff would place the food for the waiters at the bar to distribute to customers. There was an aisle leading to the washroom, then a wall sectioning off an area of tables. Towards the back there was another glass sliding door sectioning off an elevated area for private booths.

Xiaoxi gulped as she headed to the back. Jiang Chen did not mention where he would be seated. She did not spot him on the way in. There was a sign in front of the sliding door that said 'Section Closed'. Xiaoxi pulled out her phone and type sent Jiang Chen a message.

"12:57pm

Where are you sitting?"

Suddenly a voice called to her. A guy in round glasses with a huge dorky grin waved at her.

"You must be Chen Xiaoxi!" He exclaimed as he came over. He was dressed in dark jeans that hung to his ankles and a dark green t-shirt. His right hand adjusted his glasses.

Xiaoxi self-consciously nodded. Unsure what the guy wanted.

"You're so cute! That's what I was thinking, why would Jiang Chen suddenly agree to work as a part-time tutor. It turned out to be for such a cute high school girl. Jiang Chen you sneaky thing." The guy said smiling widely at her.

_UH? _Was all Xiaoxi could think. "You know Jiang Chen? You're his friend?" She asked.

"Lu Yang, stop your nonsense!" A familiar voice suddenly said exasperatedly. Xiaoxi turned around to see Jiang Chen standing at the entrance of the door. She hurried over to him.

Jiang Chen waved her inside and glared at Lu Yang. His friend just smirked cheekily at him. He rolled his eyes and returned to his seat.

Lu Yang looked at those two at their booth. _I have a feeling about those two._ With his dorky grin still on his face, he returned to his office.

Meanwhile, Xiaoxi, with a heart for the arts was still staring at the café décor. Each booth had a small round yellow light hanging for illumination. The polished wooden benches were lined with cream colored cushions. Everything looked so chic and elegant, she felt as though she was in a different world as soon as she stepped in the door. The soft tones of wood and cream made everything seem delicate and fragile. Even if she wasn't the most feminine of girls, she felt that she would have immediately turned into a lady, just by sitting inside the café.

Jiang Chen observed Xiaoxi's wide eyes wandering all over the place and sighed. It would seem that the café would be distracting. Hopefully she would be able to concentrate in a short while. He cleared his throat. "Let's begin."

Xiaoxi hurriedly unzipped her backpack and took out her textbooks, notebooks and papers. She laid out her pencils and set her pencil case beside her stack of things, near to the wall. She glanced shyly at Jiang Chen. "Uhm, who is Lu Yang?"

"He is my friend. He has a double major in business and computer science. His dream is to open a unique type of computer café."

Xiaoxi made an o-shape with her mouth. "So, this place…?"

"Lu Yang's family manages this place. I told him about our tutoring sessions because we needed a quiet place. He helped us reserve this section so you can have peace and quiet to focus on our lessons." Jiang Chen nonchalantly flipped through Xiaoxi's homework, taking note of things she needed to work on. He grabbed a pen and his notepad, making a list of things they would have to cover before the exams.

"Lu Yang, is he my senior classmate?" Xiaoxi wondered. She didn't know a lot of people in her own grade, let alone others in her high school.

"Nn." Jiang Chen replied, "Same class before, currently also the same university." After scribbling a tutoring plan, he looked up at her.

"No more questions? Then we will start now." He ignored Xiaoxi's pout and expression of suffering.

He had a lot of work set out for him, if he was responsible in raising Xiaoxi's grades. Math would be a constant subject they'd have to practice. Exams were only a couple months a way, and she also seemed to be behind the current progress set out by the teachers. He would have to simultaneously catch her up on the progress in her classes, as well as introduce old topics to help her build a better foundation. A full-on review would not happen until the summer. All this he told her without sugar coating anything.

Xiaoxi's face was very expressive. Jiang Chen could almost see her childish whining expression turn into a serious contemplation of her future. _At least she cares. _He thought. He almost felt sorry for being harsh on her, especially observing the beginning signs of stress on her face. He was also very surprised that he was taking Xiaoxi's future this seriously. _Is this normal? Why am I caring so much? I never felt anything when I helped some classmates before. _

Mentally shaking his head to dispel weird thoughts, Jiang Chen reached for the chemistry textbook.

"This is your second worse subject other than Math. We will start with this. In the second half of the lesson, we will do practices for Math. We will start with what you don't know and address the topics covered in the next test."

Xiaoxi just looked at Jiang Chen with a shrug, "I don't know what I don't know." Jiang Chen, at that moment, face palmed. At least that explained something.

He looked at the crinkled test paper with red angry 30%. Even after two years, he could recognize Ms. Ren's handwriting. That teacher was formidable, but also many of his former classmates' nightmare.

"We'll start with this. This will definitely show up on the mid-term."

Grabbing a piece of paper, he then began to explain the calculation of energy changes in chemical reactions, how to recognize the direction of reactions, draw diagrams, and wrote the equation out.

After half an hour of re-explaining the material, Jiang Chen was confident that Xiaoxi finally understood the bare basics of the topic. Her knowledge could only be cemented by practice questions. He circled some important exercises in the textbook and handed them to Xiaoxi. When she looked at them, she started to furrow her eyebrows. _Why do these look so much more complicated than Jiang Chen's explanations? _

Xiaoxi chewed her pen as she attempted the exercises.

Jiang Chen looked at the girl in front of him. Xiaoxi was currently writing in her notebooks, working on the problems he had set out for her to practice. He was right in assuming that Xiaoxi did not bother to do the exercises in the textbook.

She didn't seem to have changed that much. Her face remained the same. Her chin length hair was carefully curled inwards at the ends to prevent flaring. Wisps of her bangs were scattered across her forehead. Her brown eyes, large and misty, framed by long lashes. She had a smile still too large for her face, same rosy round cheeks, which somehow narrowed to a pointed chin. She was running around, as usual in her uniform.

When a new stage of life begins, you sometimes feel nostalgia for times passed. The symptom could be caused in part, by the stress of facing adulthood and figuring your life career, and then realizing that the path you chose would be your life for the next thirty years or so. It felt daunting.

This was what Jiang Chen felt when he first saw Chen Xiaoxi at Chinese New Years. He should have known something was up, when his mother decided to visit the Aunt Chen. His mother had randomly returned from Beijing, for once deciding to spend the holiday with him, finally remembering that she had an older son. Jiang Chen didn't really mind. He was used to being alone. Besides, Grandma Li next door, was quite doting, since her own children had flown from the nest and seldom spent time with her. He was looked after, and he was independent. _Now, I am roped into this tutoring thing. At least a side-income would be nice. _

The only favor, it seemed, was that his mother did have a slight conscience for neglecting his upbringing. Upon his entrance to the district's top university, his mother had presented him with a document that showed his ownership of the apartment he lived in. His mother had transferred the property to under his name.

It was a nice head start. He didn't have to worry about housing now, and later if he moved, he could always acquire tenants.

At the first sighting of Chen Xiaoxi, Jiang Chen didn't know what to think or feel. Honestly, there was a twinge of something in his chest, but he didn't know what. But all that disappeared when he saw her homework. _Horrifying. _

If he analyzed himself correctly, the twinge was probably from the memory of companionship, until his mother moved him away. Well, he had friends now, but he still mostly kept himself alone. He spent his time studying, ignoring or denying the loneliness he felt at times. He remembered that before he moved away, he spent most of his time with Xiaoxi. She was his constant companion, always playing and reading together. Well, he would read his textbooks, while Xiaoxi scribbled or played. However, it was company. Jiang Chen suddenly realized that he missed that rapport with the girl in front of him. _Just nostalgia, _he convinced himself.

At that time, a new housing estate was being built, and his mother thought that having property investment there was a good idea. Or maybe, she wanted to get rid of the place that reminded her of the memories of their family after the death of his father. It was easy to start again with his younger brother. It felt like a clean slate because Jiang Chen's younger brother did not remember much.

The distance and the age difference meant that he and Xiaoxi grew apart. He just didn't admit that, that reason he told himself was an excuse. In such a modern age with advanced technology and smart phones, there was really no reason to 'grow apart' if one put the effort in to keep in touch. The real reason was, after the first day of middle school, he had gone to look for Xiaoxi to see if she wanted to hang out over the weekend. Except, he saw her walking happily with another girl. At that time, and probably even up to now, Jiang Chen did not realize that he was jealous. Well, he felt angry for being replaced. And he gradually stopped replying to Xiaoxi's instant messages.

At school, they were in different grades and in different circles anyway. Being two years older, as well, he and Xiaoxi was only in the same school for one year before he graduated. There was no excuse for him to go and reconnect with her.

The question was, did he want to re-ignite their friendship from childhood? _It is a possibility_

The silence of the booth was broken by a sudden growling.

Jiang Chen glanced up from the book he was reading. Xiaoxi had stopped writing, blushing. Her pen paused in mid-air.

"Hungry?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and a half-smirk. The dimple of his right cheek seemed to wink in amusement.

"Well, after school today, I didn't eat before coming here. I didn't know if I should eat while we have class." Xiaoxi said nervously.

He couldn't help but tease her, "This place isn't school."

Xiaoxi dipped her head even lower.

"Alright, I'll buy something for you."

Her head shot up. "No, no, no need. I have money I can get food after this."

Jiang Chen couldn't help but ruffle her hair. "We're still friends. This is no problem at all. I remember that you have a problem ignoring food."

Xiaoxi was speechless. _Friends? _At his assertive gaze, she couldn't help but nod in agreement. Jiang Chen had a way of talking and looking at people that made them want to listen to everything he said. This was one of those cases.

"Curry rice is fine?" Xiaoxi could only nod again. She mutely stared at Jiang Chen as he got up and walked off to order food.

It seemed easy to slip back into that role of caring for Xiaoxi like old times, Jiang Chen found out. He kind of liked it.

...

Lu Yang accosted him as soon as he stepped out. Jiang Chen ignored him as he walked quickly away, making sure that Xiaoxi could not hear them. Even with his back turned, he could still feel her curios stares. _She's probably still wondering why I am buying her food. _Jiang Chen laughed a bit to himself.

It was kind of fun to tease her like this unexpectedly. Her expression was cute sometimes. Jiang Chen completely missed the fact that he just thought of Xiaoxi as adorable.

"She's an improvement from the other girl that hangs around you." Lu Yang stated as he followed him. He just hnn-ed in response.

"What do you want to order? I'll just speak to the kitchen." Lu Yang was accustomed to his friend being quiet.

"I don't want to trouble your family. I'll pay for it." Jiang Chen held up his bank card. Lu Yang waved him to the cashier for Xiaoxi's curry.

"Discounted price. But in exchange tell me about Xiaoxi. Its so rare to see you even conversing comfortably with the opposite gender." Lu Yang tried to pry information from his friend.

"I don't have any intentions of that kind towards Chen Xiaoxi." Jiang Chen said with annoyance. Sometimes he wondered how Lu Yang, as a guy, liked to gossip so much.

Lu Yang lightly commented, "Li Wei has." Jiang Chen said nothing. Both of them knew that Jiang Chen felt nothing towards Li Wei. Lu Yang liked to tease.

Li Wei was their high school class leader. She was also in the same university as Lu Yang and Jiang Chen, studying to become a vet. Jiang Chen was in med school. However, the first-year courses for both faculties contained common life sciences courses. Li Wei, hence, latched onto Jiang Chen like a leech, citing 'I don't know anyone else here, at least we were high school classmates, we will do well working together.'

In response to his friend, Jiang Chen could only say, "Li Wei has nothing to do with me, you know that." He waved at his friend to focus on his task at hand.

Lu Yang grinned at his friend's attitude. "Yes, yes." He mock punched Jiang Chen's arm. "I will stop talking about this…for today. Let me get your food." Lu Yang handed the card back to Jiang Chen. "I'll make you some bubble tea as well. On the house. Teaching is tiring, eh?"

Jiang Chen shrugged, "Its alright." All the while, he was thinking that Xiaoxi seemed more obedient and docile than expected. Despite her whining and pouting about the extra work she had to do from now on, and contrasting to her somewhat boisterous nature as a child.

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**Happy Holidays!**


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